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About QuickBooks

Quickbooks Review: Accounting Software for Lawyers

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Lawyerist Rating for QuickBooks

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Rating Breakdown

Our Rating: 3.8/5

Our rating is based on our subjective judgment. Use our resources—including our rating and community ratings and reviews—to find the best fit for your firm.

Community Rating: 5/5 (based on 1 rating)

The community rating is based on the average of the community reviews below.

Composite Rating: 4.2/5

The composite rating is a weighted average of our rating and the community ratings below.

4.2/5

Overview
Featured Rating

What is QuickBooks?

QuickBooks is a popular accounting platform that many solo lawyers and small to medium-sized law firms use. It integrates with a wide range of Law Practice Management Software providers, and has a host of helpful add-ons. Although available as a desktop or online version, the cloud-based platform is gaining in popularity and features, and is likely the most useful for the modern law firm.

Starting Cost: $30/month

Pros
  • Integrations
  • Broad Usage
  • HR Resource
Cons
  • Expensive
  • Complex
  • Need a Bookkeeper
Overview
Featured Ratings

Quickbooks Review: Accounting Software for Lawyers Features

Customer Experience & Support

/5

Price & Value

/5

Security

/5

Innovation & Future-Proofing

/5

Overview
Featured Rating
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Quickbooks Review: Accounting Software for Lawyers Video

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Product Details

Apps
  • Android
  • iOS
  • iPadOS
  • Web
  • MacOS
  • Windows

Core Features

For Accounting & Bookkeeping, the following are essential features, and you should therefore expect to see a check in every box in this section.

Yes
No

Free Trial

Basic Bookkeeping

This means simple double-entry bookkeeping.

Connect Bank Accounts

Link your bank accounts for up-to-date transaction information with little or no manual data entry.

Billing/Invoicing

Online Payments

This means the ability to accept credit card or echeck payments within your accounting software, either through its own payment portal or via a third-party integration like PayPal or Square. Most online payments involve a separate processing fee.

Timekeeping

Mileage Tracking

Keep track of miles traveled visiting clients or heading to the courthouse, making it easier to tally for taxes or billing purposes or add to your expense reports.

Bill Payment

Pay your firm's bills without leaving your accounting software.

Statement Reconciliation

Helps with the complex task of balancing your business accounts. Does not necessarily include more advanced reconciliation features like three-way trust account reconciliation.

Payroll

Payroll includes automatically calculating employee taxes, printing checks, and paying by direct deposit.

Tax Preparation

Some accounting software can also be used to prepare taxes for your firm so you can review, approve, and even pay your taxes all in one place.

Reporting

Businesses need reports to help assess key business performance indicators like profit and accounts receivable. Some products have more robust reporting features than others.

Foreign Currencies

Check Printing

Contact Management

Store contacts for invoicing or billing purposes.

User Management

User Management means the software allows your firm to differentiate between persons who have access to the information and adjust their levels of access based on their relevant users statuses.

Split Origination Reporting

This means that the product allows your firm not only to track where a file came from but also to allocate a percentage of the origination to individual users.

Recurring Payments

Some providers will allow you to set up recurring payments for your clients that will be automatically debited based on selections your clients make.

Trust Account Management

This means the product allows you to differentiate between client trust accounts and track them individually. It also means that the product helps you manage your three-way reconciliation.

Compare QuickBooks Similar Products

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QuickBooks

4.2/5

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Pros
  • Integrations
  • Broad Usage
  • HR Resource
Cons
  • Expensive
  • Complex
  • Need a Bookkeeper

Xero Accounting Software

4.7/5

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Pros
  • Price
  • DIY
  • Cloud-based
Cons
  • ["Lack of Integrations","No HR","Not for Large Firms"]
Read Xero Accounting Software Review

Bench

Bench Bookkeeping Accounting Logo for Lawyerist Affinity Benefits Partner program
Pros
  • DIY
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  • Cloud-based
Cons
  • Lack of Integrations
  • Not DIY
  • Need a Bookkeeper
Read Bench Review

ZipBooks

4.5/5

ZipBooks Logo
Pros
  • DIY
  • Free Tier
  • Project Accounting
Cons
  • Lack of Integrations
  • Not for Legal Field
  • Difficult Trust Account Mgmt
Read ZipBooks Review

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I use QuickBooks?

QuickBooks can be used as an online application or as desktop software. At the time of this review, the online version is where Intuit is concentrating its attention. Users of QuickBooks Online can generally access the software from anywhere. For those needing or desiring the desktop version, Intuit offers a cloud access component for an additional fee.

What is the price of QuickBooks?

QuickBooks online has four separate plans. As of this review, Simple Start is $30/user/month, Essentials is $60/user/month, Plus is $90/user/month, and Advanced is $200/user/month. There are loads of add-ons that one can get to help with HR, bookkeeping, payroll, and other tasks. As of this review, QuickBooks offers a 50% discount for the first three months and a 30-day free trial.

Is QuickBooks secure?

QuickBooks Desktop will be about as secure as a firm’s internal systems. QuickBooks Online uses standard SSL encryption for communication and allows for multi-factor authentication to be set up for users.

Does QuickBooks integrate with my Law Practice Management Software?

Many law practice management systems (LPMS) integrate with QuickBooks Desktop and Online. However, levels of integration vary. Web-based LPMS products are more likely to integrate with more easily with QuickBooks Online than with the desktop software. Users would be wise to confirm that the functions that they need are included in the integration.

Can QuickBooks handle my law firm's trust accounting?

Yes. It can handle your law firm’s trust accounting. For some complex systems, this may require the firm to hire a setup expert.

Is QuickBooks good for solos?

Since QuickBooks has different levels of subscriptions, it is generally considered good for solos and small law firm alike.

Will QuickBooks connect to my online bank account?

QuickBooks Online will connect to a user’s bank account to update and download recent transactions from the bank itself. The desktop version may still require users to download the transactions and import them using a spreadsheet file.

Can my law firm manage users with QuickBooks?

Yes. If the plan allows for more than one user, the system will allow for limited user access based on admin selections. For QuickBooks Online, multiple users are possible on the Essentials, Plus, and Advanced tiers. The number of users depends on the plan selected. All tiers of the desktop product permit multiple users, but require a per-user fee.

Will my law firm's accountant be able to use QuickBooks?

It is highly likely that a law firm’s accountant is familiar with QuickBooks, both online and desktop. But, as there are other products on the market, it is always good to confirm this with the accountant.

Can my firm accept ePayments with QuickBooks?

Yes. Both the QuickBooks Online and Desktop versions have ePayment functionality. You can even subscribe to QuickBooks Money, which handles invoices and payments, but contains no accounting features. QuickBooks Online is a superset of QuickBooks Money.

Additional Details about QuickBooks

As of this review, while QuickBooks’ desktop software remains available (search for QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise), everything about QuickBooks website leads you toward their online product. Both are subscription based; no one-time-purchase option exists.

Pricing

A Plan for Just About Everyone

QuickBooks provides a wide range of accounting features that work for solo lawyers to medium-sized law firms. In order to do this, Intuit offers multiple pricing plans. Not all plans include the above features.

Security

Client information security is a real concern for lawyers. QuickBooks, therefore, uses SSL (secure-socket layer) to ensure your data is encrypted in transit. Credit card and social security numbers are converted to tokens or encrypted. QuickBooks secures its data centers with 24/7 personnel and video surveillance and has backup generators to keep data available during power outages.

Quickbooks for the Modern Lawyer

Online Advanced

Although QuickBooks is not specifically built with lawyers in mind, they released their Advanced product. This customized product addresses many of the small to medium-sized law firm’s pain points. For example, Advanced has complex billing terms, billable hours, and time-keeping abilities. Additionally, it has strong Key Performance Indicator (KPI) reporting—which is something we think every law firm needs.

Integrations

QuickBooks has also made its product more enticing to lawyers by integrating with products like Clio, LeanLaw, TSheets, and many popular CRM applications. These integrations can save time and make offices more efficient.

Who QuickBooks is for

QuickBooks can handle most accounting tasks a lawyer will throw at it. It has robust reporting capabilities, integrations with countless other software platforms, and, given its multiple price points, it is generally affordable. Additionally, most accountants can easily work with QuickBooks, so it may save you a lot of headache come tax time.

Lawyers who are able to take advantage of the cloud-based system’s integrations and add-ons will likely be the happiest with this product. An office could easily run their HR department (with payroll and time-sheets add-ons), create complex billing systems, take online payments from clients, and set their budgets and track expenses within the system. It just may require viewing some YouTube videos.

QuickBooks is not, however, customized for lawyers or law firms, which can make it difficult to set up, and require a little extra effort around trust accounting. What’s more, many attorneys don’t need all the features QuickBooks offers. Accordingly, these lawyers may find more benefit from a less expensive product.

Not sure where to begin? Download our Field Guide

Take the guesswork out of researching, purchasing, and implementing the right legal tech products and services for your law firm. Our Field Guide answers your essential questions and breaks down the features most important to your business, so you can buy with confidence.

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QuickBooks Community Reviews

5

Based on 1 Rating

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  • Anonymous says:
    September 5, 2017 at 1:08 pm

    Quickbooks is my favorite accounting software.

    There’s a reason Quickbooks is the most used accounting software. It’s the best.

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